The was a powerful noble clan of

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...

, one of the

Three Kingdoms of Korea The Three Kingdoms of Korea or Samhan (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) competed for hegemony over the Korea, Korean Peninsula during the ancient period of History of Korea, Korean history. During the Three Kingdoms period (), many states and statele ...

History

They were one of the "

Great Eight Families The Great Eight Families (, ) were eight noble families of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. They were the most powerful of the noble families and had been comrades in arms with the founding monarch Onjo of Baekje. They reached the pin ...

" (''Daeseongpaljok'', 大姓八族) of Baekje: (Sa (沙氏), Yeon (燕氏), Hyeop (劦氏), Hae (解氏), Jin (眞氏), Guk (國氏), Mok (木氏), and Baek (苩氏)). This helped them gain high court positions in the government and military. After the Battle at Mt. Amak fortress (阿莫山城) against

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

during the beginning of the reign of King

Mu of Baekje Mu (c. 581–641) was the 30th king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, reigning from 600 to 641. He was the 4th son of King Wideok. Background During his reign, the Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla) were at war with ...

the Great Eight Families lost a great deal of power. Among the families the Hae clan (who had led the battle), Hyeop, Jin and Mok disappeared from the central political stage leaving only the Yeon, Guk and Baek clans. The Sa clan promoted their influence by military force and produced a queen in the late reign of

. They did not lose their status as central nobles during the reign of the last King,

Uija of Baekje Uija (595?–660, r. 641–660) was the 31st and final ruler of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. His reign ended when Baekje was conquered by an alliance of the rival Korean kingdom Silla and China's Tang dynasty. Background Dur ...

by colluding with royal authority. The Buyeo clan (the royal family, 扶餘氏) acquired influence with the collapse of the

. After King Uija acceded the throne, royal might was also divided and the lineal descendant of the royal clan with the king as its center was in control of political situation. Among the Great Eight Families, Yeon and Baek clans fell behind and only clans of Sa and Guk maintained their status as central nobles. In the late Baekje all the Great Eight Families except for Sa and Guk clans lost their status as the central nobles and were degraded to local influence at last.

Known Members

The records of the Yeon clan are sparse and broken making it hard to create a family tree but can be viewed as a timeline. * 21st King: Gaeru of Baekje, 23rd King:

Samgeun of Baekje Samgeun (465–479) (r. 477–479) was the 23rd king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. According to the ''Samguk sagi'', he was the eldest son of the 22nd king Munju. Background In 475, the northern Korean kingdom of Gogur ...

Yeon Sin Yeon Sin (? – 478) was a noble of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was a member of the Yeon clan (燕氏), one of the " Great Eight Families" (''Daeseongpaljok'', 大姓八族). He held the position of Eunsol (恩率: 3rd officia ...

(연신, 燕信, ?–478), held the position of Eunsol (恩率: 3rd official rank). He rebelled against the 23rd king,

. Yeon Sin is the first person of the Yeon clan (燕氏) to show up in the ''

Samguk Sagi ''Samguk sagi'' () is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Completed in 1145, it is well-known in Korea as the oldest surviving chronicle of Korean history. The ''Samguk sagi'' is written in Classical ...

''.Samguk Sagi, scroll 27 In 478 he rebelled against the king along with

Hae Gu Hae Gu (? – 478) was a noble of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was a member of the Hae clan (解氏), one of the "Great Eight Families" (''Daeseongpaljok'', 大姓八族). He held the position of Minister of Defense (''Byeonggwa ...

and was defeated. He fled to Goguryeo but was executed by beheading in the market square. * 24th King:

Dongseong of Baekje Dongseong (died 501) was the 24th king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, reigning from 479 to 501.by the translators of Il-yeon's: ''Samguk Yusa: Legends and History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea'', translated by Tae-Hung ...

** Yeon Dol (연돌, 燕突, ?–?), appointed Dalsol (達率: 2nd official rank) in 490 and then in 497 appointed Minister of Defense (''Byeong'gwan-jwa'pyeong'', 兵官佐平) when the previous Minister of Defense, Jin Ro, died. * 26th King:

Seong of Baekje Seong (c. 504 – 554) was the 26th king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, reigning from 523 to 554. He was a son of Muryeong of Baekje and is best known for making Buddhism the state religion, moving the national capital to Sabi ...

** Yeon Mo (연모, 燕謨, ?–?), was a general who was sent in 529 to defend Baekje when the King of Goguryeo,

Anjang of Goguryeo Anjang (died 531, r. 519–531) was the 22nd ruler of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. With his original name of Heung-an, he was the eldest son of Munjamyeong. He was named Crown Prince in the seventh year of Munjamye ...

attacked from the North. There is a theory that the man called "灼莫古" who was sent to Japan in 516 is the same person as Yeon Mo. ** Yeon Hoe (연회, 燕會, ?–?), was a general who in 540 surrounded Usanseong Fortress (牛山城) of

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, ''kwòwlyéy''), was a Korean kingdom which was located on the northern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula an ...

but King

Anwon of Goguryeo Anwon (died 545) (r. 531–545) was the 23rd ruler of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was the younger brother of Anjang of Goguryeo, and is said to have been tall and wise. Battles The other two of the Three King ...

attacked and set them to flight.

References

Content in this article was copied fro
Samguk Sagi Scroll 23
at the Shoki Wiki, which is licensed under th
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license
{{reflist Baekje people

History

Known Members

See also

References